Overjoyed: Marcel Hirscher celebrates after winning a World Cup slalom event on Sunday in Adelboden, Switzerland. APThe 22-year-old Austrian mastered rapidly worsening conditions on the Kuonisbaergli slope to beat defending overall champion Ivica Kostelic by 0.27 seconds, for a combined two-run time of 1 minute, 58.66 seconds."It's an incredible feeling," Hirscher said, after his third victory in four days. "I can't imagine or explain what's happening right now."Stefano Gross of Italy trailed Hirscher by 0.99 in third. Another Italian, Cristian Deville, had shared the lead with Hirscher after the first run but had a poor second run and crossed with the ninth best time before he was disqualified for a gate violation.Hirscher became the first men's skier to win the first three races of the year since Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark in 1978. Hirscher also won Thursday's night slalom in Zagreb, Croatia, and the classic Adelboden giant slalom on Saturday."I take so many risks in every race and you should ski out 50 percent of the time like that. I'm feeling great and I'm not tired during the races," Hirscher explained.Kostelic moved up to second overall, but Hirscher's 100 World Cup points for the win put him 230 ahead, as he looks set to put together the same kind of good run in January that propelled the Croatian to the title last year."Your self confidence grows and it's just that you are riding on this wave of success," said Kostelic, who won seven events last January. "This is a mental thing and I think Marcel is in it right now."Kostelic kept the lead in the discipline standings by 25 points.Hirscher has led after the first run in all three of his victories in 2012, but trailed Kostelic by 0.03 at the second-to-last intermediate time Sunday. He found extra speed down the steep final section despite racing through snow and thickening cloud cover."It was all or nothing. We were at the limit of it being impossible to race on this course," said Hirscher, whose eighth career World Cup victory reversed the result of a year ago, when Kostelic edged him for victory.Ted Ligety of the United States dropped one place to fourth in the overall standings after he skied out midway through a rough second run."I skied pretty bad the whole way and never found a rhythm," Ligety said after placing 21st in the first leg. "It's a tough schedule coming straight here from Zagreb without the chance to get some training in."Nolan Kasper was the best of the Americans, retaining his ninth place from the morning as he finished 2.28 behind Hirscher. Teammate Will Brandenburg placed 22nd, 3.92 back.Bode Miller, who won the Adelboden slalom in 2002, skied out near the end of his first run. He stayed sixth overall and can expect to collect points next weekend at nearby Wengen, where he traditionally excels.Hirscher is sticking with his plan to skip speed events, to focus only on technical gate races.Kostelic, who competes in all five Alpine events, said Hirscher could still win the crystal globe for the season-long overall title despite only getting points in two disciplines."I said, maybe two years ago, that Marcel was a contender for the overall if he dominates in the technical races, and that is what he is doing right now," the 32-year-old veteran said. "The only question is whether he can dominate until the end of the season."
Showing posts with label slalom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label slalom. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Hirscher wins slalom, stays perfect this year
ADELBODEN, Switzerland — Marcel Hirscher extended his perfect start to 2012 by winning a World Cup slalom on Sunday to pad his lead in the overall standings.Overjoyed: Marcel Hirscher celebrates after winning a World Cup slalom event on Sunday in Adelboden, Switzerland. APThe 22-year-old Austrian mastered rapidly worsening conditions on the Kuonisbaergli slope to beat defending overall champion Ivica Kostelic by 0.27 seconds, for a combined two-run time of 1 minute, 58.66 seconds."It's an incredible feeling," Hirscher said, after his third victory in four days. "I can't imagine or explain what's happening right now."Stefano Gross of Italy trailed Hirscher by 0.99 in third. Another Italian, Cristian Deville, had shared the lead with Hirscher after the first run but had a poor second run and crossed with the ninth best time before he was disqualified for a gate violation.Hirscher became the first men's skier to win the first three races of the year since Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark in 1978. Hirscher also won Thursday's night slalom in Zagreb, Croatia, and the classic Adelboden giant slalom on Saturday."I take so many risks in every race and you should ski out 50 percent of the time like that. I'm feeling great and I'm not tired during the races," Hirscher explained.Kostelic moved up to second overall, but Hirscher's 100 World Cup points for the win put him 230 ahead, as he looks set to put together the same kind of good run in January that propelled the Croatian to the title last year."Your self confidence grows and it's just that you are riding on this wave of success," said Kostelic, who won seven events last January. "This is a mental thing and I think Marcel is in it right now."Kostelic kept the lead in the discipline standings by 25 points.Hirscher has led after the first run in all three of his victories in 2012, but trailed Kostelic by 0.03 at the second-to-last intermediate time Sunday. He found extra speed down the steep final section despite racing through snow and thickening cloud cover."It was all or nothing. We were at the limit of it being impossible to race on this course," said Hirscher, whose eighth career World Cup victory reversed the result of a year ago, when Kostelic edged him for victory.Ted Ligety of the United States dropped one place to fourth in the overall standings after he skied out midway through a rough second run."I skied pretty bad the whole way and never found a rhythm," Ligety said after placing 21st in the first leg. "It's a tough schedule coming straight here from Zagreb without the chance to get some training in."Nolan Kasper was the best of the Americans, retaining his ninth place from the morning as he finished 2.28 behind Hirscher. Teammate Will Brandenburg placed 22nd, 3.92 back.Bode Miller, who won the Adelboden slalom in 2002, skied out near the end of his first run. He stayed sixth overall and can expect to collect points next weekend at nearby Wengen, where he traditionally excels.Hirscher is sticking with his plan to skip speed events, to focus only on technical gate races.Kostelic, who competes in all five Alpine events, said Hirscher could still win the crystal globe for the season-long overall title despite only getting points in two disciplines."I said, maybe two years ago, that Marcel was a contender for the overall if he dominates in the technical races, and that is what he is doing right now," the 32-year-old veteran said. "The only question is whether he can dominate until the end of the season."
Overjoyed: Marcel Hirscher celebrates after winning a World Cup slalom event on Sunday in Adelboden, Switzerland. APThe 22-year-old Austrian mastered rapidly worsening conditions on the Kuonisbaergli slope to beat defending overall champion Ivica Kostelic by 0.27 seconds, for a combined two-run time of 1 minute, 58.66 seconds."It's an incredible feeling," Hirscher said, after his third victory in four days. "I can't imagine or explain what's happening right now."Stefano Gross of Italy trailed Hirscher by 0.99 in third. Another Italian, Cristian Deville, had shared the lead with Hirscher after the first run but had a poor second run and crossed with the ninth best time before he was disqualified for a gate violation.Hirscher became the first men's skier to win the first three races of the year since Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark in 1978. Hirscher also won Thursday's night slalom in Zagreb, Croatia, and the classic Adelboden giant slalom on Saturday."I take so many risks in every race and you should ski out 50 percent of the time like that. I'm feeling great and I'm not tired during the races," Hirscher explained.Kostelic moved up to second overall, but Hirscher's 100 World Cup points for the win put him 230 ahead, as he looks set to put together the same kind of good run in January that propelled the Croatian to the title last year."Your self confidence grows and it's just that you are riding on this wave of success," said Kostelic, who won seven events last January. "This is a mental thing and I think Marcel is in it right now."Kostelic kept the lead in the discipline standings by 25 points.Hirscher has led after the first run in all three of his victories in 2012, but trailed Kostelic by 0.03 at the second-to-last intermediate time Sunday. He found extra speed down the steep final section despite racing through snow and thickening cloud cover."It was all or nothing. We were at the limit of it being impossible to race on this course," said Hirscher, whose eighth career World Cup victory reversed the result of a year ago, when Kostelic edged him for victory.Ted Ligety of the United States dropped one place to fourth in the overall standings after he skied out midway through a rough second run."I skied pretty bad the whole way and never found a rhythm," Ligety said after placing 21st in the first leg. "It's a tough schedule coming straight here from Zagreb without the chance to get some training in."Nolan Kasper was the best of the Americans, retaining his ninth place from the morning as he finished 2.28 behind Hirscher. Teammate Will Brandenburg placed 22nd, 3.92 back.Bode Miller, who won the Adelboden slalom in 2002, skied out near the end of his first run. He stayed sixth overall and can expect to collect points next weekend at nearby Wengen, where he traditionally excels.Hirscher is sticking with his plan to skip speed events, to focus only on technical gate races.Kostelic, who competes in all five Alpine events, said Hirscher could still win the crystal globe for the season-long overall title despite only getting points in two disciplines."I said, maybe two years ago, that Marcel was a contender for the overall if he dominates in the technical races, and that is what he is doing right now," the 32-year-old veteran said. "The only question is whether he can dominate until the end of the season."
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Masterful Ligety rallies to capture World Cup giant slalom win
BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — The way Ted Ligety carved into turns looked so easy. The way he glided in between sections of the steep course appeared so elegant.Even when he's skiing on edge in a giant slalom race, pushing to the brink of his ability — as he insisted he was doing Tuesday — it hardly seemed that way.No wonder some of his rivals have taken to calling him, "Mr. GS."Ligety turned in a blazing second run in frigid conditions to capture a World Cup giant slalom race on a demanding Birds of Prey course. The three-time overall GS champion flew down the hill in a combined time of 2 minutes, 40.01 seconds to hold off Marcel Hirscher of Austria by 0.69 seconds. Kjetil Jansrud of Norway was third."I tried to do my best. I had no chance," Hirscher said. "Ted was unbreakable."It was Hirscher who lit a fire under Ligety.On Sunday, Hirscher knocked off Ligety in a giant slalom race on this course, finding superior speed where many others, including Ligety, couldn't.So, Ligety went to the video and studied Hirscher's amazing run from the weekend and used it against him."I'm glad to come down and get some redemption," Ligety said. "(Hirscher) crushed me by quite a bit and a lot of other guys Sunday."This time, it was Ligety's turn. He entered the final run trailing France's Alexis Pinturault by 0.14 seconds. But Ligety easily made up the time to win his 10th World Cup race. Pinturault made an early mistake and never recovered, settling for fourth."I was pushing super hard," Ligety said. "If I did that run several times, I don't know if I'd make it to the finish line with a high percentage."At 27, Ligety is the undisputed king of the GS. But he has a couple of youngsters hot on his heels in Hirscher (22 years old) and Pinturault (20). They keep getting better with age, especially Pinturault, who Ligety said is bound to break through for his first win very soon, possibly even this season."It's just a matter of time," Ligety said. "That's definitely a good motivator for me, knowing there's somebody 7 years younger than me that probably has more raw speed than I do. That's something that's going to make me push hard in the future. I'm hoping (Pinturault) doesn't get that mental ability and race speed too soon."Hirscher is already there.His performance this week is evidence of that. Second after the first run, Hirscher may have even charged toward another win Tuesday, but he banged his hand on a gate and wasn't the same in his final trip through the course."I was a bit not that aggressive like in the first run," Hirscher said. "I'm pretty happy with my second place. For me, it's perfect to be here."It's an amazing feeling because (Ligety) is Mr. GS. Hopefully it's going on the whole season."Just then, Jansrud playfully interrupted as the three sat at a table for a post-race news conference.Something was lost in translation."You hope (Ligety) wins all races the whole season?" Jansrud asked.Wide-eyed, Hirscher quickly amended his statement."Not that," he said. "Hopefully, I can beat him."Maybe next season the field will have an even better chance to close the gap on Ligety. That's when the new rules over the shape of the GS skis take effect. Ligety has been frustrated with the International Ski Federation's decision to alter the hourglass shape.
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